Deal or no deal for suspects?

Nearly two years ago, Daniel Alexander died in a car wreck on state Highway 14 in Vancouver. Alexander, 46, was a passenger, and the man behind the wheel was under the influence of Clonazepam, a nervous system depressant, at the time of the crash.

Alexander’s son, Joshua Alexander, said he expected the man who caused his father’s death to receive anywhere from five to 10 years in prison for his crimes. Instead, driver Kenneth L. Jones was sentenced in July to 24 months following a plea deal that shortened his potential sentence by more than four years.

“He was facing vehicular homicide, and to only get two years, I just don’t get it,” Alexander said. “It was a slap on the wrist.”

Jones’ criminal case is just one of the 97 percent of all such cases heard each year in Clark County Superior Court that are resolved through plea bargaining, and it highlights the struggle for crime victims who feel they are not getting justice. At the same time, attorneys and other experts maintain that plea deals are essential to the criminal justice system because there aren’t enough resources to bring every case to trial.

“Research shows without plea bargains, the system would come to a grinding halt,” said Jeff Barrar of the Vancouver Defenders. “If there were no plea deals, there would be no incentive to plead guilty.”

In Jones’ vehicular homicide case, Senior Deputy Prosecutor Kasey Vu said he negotiated the plea deal because there was a chance some crucial evidence may have been suppressed during a trial. The lack of evidence would have likely resulted in Jones being acquitted, he said.

“The family sometimes does not understand all of the nuances and potential results that could occur. We try to explain to them, as much as we can, but sometimes they don’t hear it or they don’t want to hear it,” Vu said. “None of it is easy. They are all difficult cases. … We have to deal with the cases that are presented to us and resolve them the best way we can.”

Prosecutors try to negotiate a deal similar to what they’d expect the outcome of a trial would be, Golik said.

Barrar said it’s the defense attorney’s job to thoroughly investigate the case, try to identify any legal issues and look at clients’ criminal history. Then, the attorney sits down with his or her client and has a “frank” discussion about their options, he said.

“The term damage control comes into play,” he said. Is the defendant willing to take a risk by going to trial and leaving it up to a jury?

On average, Barrar has handled about 100 cases a year for the last 25 years in Clark County, he said, and estimates about 95 percent of those were resolved with a plea deal.

He said the prosecution has the power to add or dismiss charges throughout the duration of a case, and that process can be used to force defendants into a “cubby.”

“In a perfect world, I would like to see people held accountable for what they did and not for their aversion to risk. And, I would like to see the prosecution prosecute cases that they can prove beyond a reasonable doubt,” Barrar said.

By the numbers

From 2009 to 2013, nearly 97 percent of all criminal Clark County Superior Court cases, on average, ended with plea bargains, according to the most recent data available from the prosecuting attorney’s office.

In 2013, about 58 cases went to trial of 2,358 felony cases filed that year. Of those cases filed, about 215 were dismissed, according to a Columbian analysis of court data.

“By plea bargaining, you can eliminate even up to 90 percent of the jail time,” he said.

‘Coerced’ plea bargains

In his November 2014 essay published in the New York Review of Books, U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff argued that the criminal justice system is dominated by plea bargaining, and it lacks judicial oversight. Rakoff, who is on senior status in the Southern District of New York, said the outcome is largely determined by the prosecutor.

The problem with this, he argued, is that there isn’t enough power remaining with the defense counsel and judges to “keep the system honest.”

Rakoff added that sentencing guidelines “provide prosecutors with weapons to bludgeon defendants into effectively coerced plea bargains.”

For example, a defendant might plead guilty if promised his or her sentence will be at the lower end of the sentencing range, instead of going to trial, being found guilty, and getting a longer sentence from the judge.